Just out of curiousity...

[JayJ79]

I've heard that the Delaware fans were bad back when we played them in the playoffs (and I remember watching that game at Mulligans, I think). But I wasn't as involved in the fan community back then, and I haven't experienced any bad/annoying delaware fans lately. So I didn't put them on my list. I could have also put Appy State on my list from some of the experiences in '05, but I haven't gotten quite the bad taste about them recently either.

I'm not anti-Hawk fans quite yet either. Perhaps because I haven't had to deal with any bad ones (since I stay away from the hawkeye boards), or perhaps just because I'm used to ignoring the typical hawkeye bias around the area.

[01PantherFan]

My thing is all the love Montana gets from the media, yea they are 7-0 but their schedual is weak as all get out, and you listen to their fans and they act like they have played top 10 teams, one idiot on AGS even slammed UNI for the Mankato state game , even though they have a whole schedual of Mankato state caliber teams.

As far as fan groups how about the New Hampshire fans for anyone that went in 05 ?

My top least liked would have to be

Montana
Iowa
Some YSU
Iowa
UNH


yes some Iowa fans made the top 5 twice

[Cat80]

I wouldn't lump the Bison with the Griz. Some of the more active Bison posters admit that the rules are the rules and that's it. Not all Bisoners are whining. One thing abount weak schedules hasn't been discussed much here or at AGS, and that is how difficult it is to schedule at the upper levels of FCS. You see teams knocking at the door of the Dome to play UNI? Not really and who can blame them. The people who need to push the issue are the fans and pressure the upper level FCS teams to play each other, even on an infrequent basis.

[JayJ79]

I think that's WHY the rest of AGS/etc. gripes about Montana's weak scheduling, to try and get them to play other upper level FCS teams. But from what I've heard, the only way the Griz will even think about playing decent competition is AT Montana.
And they don't even play in a super-competitive conference like the Gateway, where just about EVERY win can be tough.

[Cat80]

UNI had a close game with EWU in 05, and is still ok. The fighting Rob Ashes are good and NAU appears to be better. On the other hand, Portland State and Sac State pull down the average and UNC probably wishes they stayed in DII. Not tough, but then who wants all tough? The addition of the Dakota land grants pulls the top 3 conferences away from the pack. CAA, Gateway, and SoCon put air bewtween them and the next tier of FCS conferences.

[Matt Trump]

I recall listening to the '01 game on the internet and going back and forth between Rima and the Montana announcers. I remember the Montana color guy complaining about how Farley had broken with "tradition", and had the visiting team arrive game day instead of the night before. This was one indication, in his opinion, that Farley, AND I QUOTE: "didn't know what the hell he was doing". That angered me, and I have disliked Montana ever since.

Um, we came in the night before for that game.

[Cat80]

I think that's WHY the rest of AGS/etc. gripes about Montana's weak scheduling, to try and get them to play other upper level FCS teams. But from what I've heard, the only way the Griz will even think about playing decent competition is AT Montana.
And they don't even play in a super-competitive conference like the Gateway, where just about EVERY win can be tough.

Just a counterpoint; I don't see UNI at Bozeman, Statesboro, Natchi-either, or even Charleston(IL) We've done home and homes with the SLC and Big Sky, but not recently with the upper teams. The only conference we've hit most members on is the GWFC. If we want to keep the h-h with lower tier teams, wouldn't Northern Colorado be logical?

[Mountain Panther]

To be fair, Montana did play FBS teams the previous two years. And we don't have a FBS or top-tier FCS team on our OOC schedule next year either (yet).

2005
at Oregon L 47-14

2006
at No. 16 Iowa L 41-7

That said, I want to play Montana in the playoffs this year and beat them 40-10.

[UNI MadCat]

The playoff loss @ Montana in the 90s in a close game we had no business losing started it for me. I remember even back then stories about the obscure nature of some of the fans up there. There were questionable calls that went Montana's way and, while that's just part of the game I suppose, a lot of folks "in the know" seemed to indicate it was the norm up there with refs afraid they'd never make it out of town alive!

The '01 game just made it worse. I don't think anyone can argue that we were better than the Griz that year but we definitely got rattled and it snowballed (pun intended, given the weather up there) out of control early and often. Having lots of friends on that team, the stories all sounded like MTs statements. It sounded bizzarre and borderline scary.

I also lost a lot of respect for their "journalists" for how they handled "tape gate". (If you don't know that story, someone else can rehash it.) It was completly fabricated based on inappropriate "journalism" and it then transcended to a lot more unruly fan behavior. I was furious to the point of calling the editor of the paper whose name escapes me now to try and voice my frustration. Of course, its no surprise that it did zero good and the guy basically laughed it off. I couldn't honestly believe how irresponsible they were... but, I suppose its typical in a community that's relatively closed-off from the rest of the country.

Overall though, my hatred for all things Montana probably falls more out of jealousy than anything, and I dont mind admitting that. They have the resources and the $$$ to essentially buy any game they want and it works for them. Frankly, they are the Yankees of FCS, and I don't necessarily mean that in a negative way. You either love or hate the Yankees and why... because they win (and never need to worry about re-building, just reloading). Any fan that says they wouldn't trade their teams accomplishments for the history of the Yankees is lying to themselves. And its similar here with the Griz.

If we had the success and following they do, I'd probably be a pretty arrogant fan too.

[UNIChippewa]

UMASS beat Montana in Montana last year during the playoffs, right?

[Schack]

Um, we came in the night before for that game.

Sorry about the faulty memory. But I think his beef was about some event the UNI team didn't arrive in time for or didn't attend. He felt UNI should have been there sooner. Anyway, I'm sure about the quote 'cause the game audio was archived at their web site and I listened to it several times.

[Panthers#1]

I also lost a lot of respect for their "journalists" for how they handled "tape gate". (If you don't know that story, someone else can rehash it.)

Please explain, I don't remember this. Perhaps I was too young.

[Khan4Cats]

Tape Gate, or whatever, to the best of my recollection revolved around the film exchange for the game preparation. There was disagreement over # of game films to exchange, which games to exchange, and even down on where to meet (as usually a team manager/film coordinator flies to meet the opponent to exchange tapes). I believe Montana did not want to exchange any recnt film because they already had some tape on us from somewhere and they expected us to fly all the way to Montana and not meet halfway. In the end, I don't think any tapes were exchanged, but I believe that the Montana "fans" were kind enough to throw plenty of tapes (and batteries, and other things) at our team on the sidelines during the game.
And yes, there was an incident of really unsportsmanlike behavior on the part of one our players at the end of the game. I'm sure you will hear plenty about that from Griz fans should we meet somewhere down the line this year, or next, or whenever.

[SMK4UNI]

There were a couple in that game unfortunatly

[Mountain Panther]

(as usually a team manager/film coordinator flies to meet the opponent to exchange tapes).

FedEx isn't good enough? Does the team manager have the tape locked in a briefcase that's locked to his wrist with a chain? j/k